Dancing Slowly in an Empty Room – Standing Around

Boys:
<Conrad and David look over, David nudges Taryn>Girls:
<Taryn looks over and blinks as Saige squeezes her thighs tighter to show him she could stay up if she wanted to, then drops to her feet>Girls:
<Taryn whispers to David> Did I just see that?Boys:
<David nods, whispers> If not, we’re all hallucinatin’.Boys:
<Samuel looks back at Saige, smiles again> Thighs of steel, huh? I’ll keep that in mind tonight when I’m alone.Girls:
<Silver looks over when Conrad does and blinks, smiles> When did you start givin’ piggy back rides.

Boys:
<Samuel looks at Silver> Since it’s not worth fightin’ to get her off me.Boys:
<Conrad just stares>Girls:
<Saige smiles at Samuel leans in and whispers> I’ve got other things of steel too. <pulls back and grins as she walks over and climbs on the fence>Girls:
<Silver nods> Well I suppose there’s that.Boys:
<Samuel looks at Saige, arches a brow, watches her walk over to the fence, not even hearing Silver> I’ll be keepin’ that in mind, too.Boys:
<Conrad looks at Silver, whispers> Did I just see what I think I saw?Girls:
<Silver nods> Yes, you did.Boys:
<Conrad smiles> So.. that cold wind *is* hell freezing over?Girls:
<Silver nods> Yes and the ice caps melting too.Boys:
<Conrad nods> So.. the “interesting” potential for this shopping trip tomorrow just got exponentially higher. <smiles> Sure you don’t wanna come?Girls:
<Silver smiles> Oh.. hell yeah I’m going.Boys:
<Samuel walks over and hops the fence, grabs the bridle, walks over to Spirit and puts it on him, leads him to the gate, loosk at Taryn> I’m gonna put Spirit in with the Vanners tonight since this barn’s full.Boys:
<Conrad smiles again, to Silver> Yeah, I thought you might.Girls:
<Taryn smiles> Okay. What’d she think of them?Boys:
<Samuel smiles at Taryn> What do you think? They’re “adorable”.Girls:
<Taryn laughs> Right. <Smiles> Well they are.Boys:
<Samuel shakes his head, still smiling, opens the gate and leads Spirit out and back to the other barn>Boys:
<David looks at Taryn> So.. how long were they gone?Boys:
<Conrad looks Saige> So.. what kind of super power do *you* have?Girls:
<Taryn shrugs> Long enough that I’m wonderin’ if we should be lookin’ for signs.Boys:
<David nods in agreement with Taryn>Girls:
<Saige looks at Conrad> I don’t have any.Boys:
<Conrad laughs> Yeah. Right. <smiles at Silver> She doesn’t have any.Girls:
<Silver looks at Rad> Bullshit she doesn’t. She was on his back and he was *smiling* about it.Boys:
<Conrad nods> Exactly.Boys:
<David shakes his head>Girls:
<Taryn watches Samuel, blinking, looks over at Saige, and blinks again, to David> How does that even happen?Boys:
<David looks at Taryn> Thighs of steel. <smiles> Same thing you did to me.Girls:
<Taryn nods> How does he even know that?Boys:
<David smiles again> Huh.Girls:
<Taryn nods> Yeah.. but I knew you’d be okay with it.Boys:
<David looks at Taryn> So.. maybe she knew that, too.Boys:
<David shrugs> Or this was a risk she took that actually paid off.Girls:
<Taryn nods> Yes.. let’s go with that one.Boys:
<David nods> All right, then.Girls:
<Silver looks at Conrad>Girls:
<Taryn smiles> Huh?Boys:
<David smiles> Huh.Boys:
<Conrad smiles at Silver> What he said.Girls:
<Taryn looks at David> So I’m guessing I wasn’t entirely wrong in my assessment of the situation earlier.Boys:
<David nods> I’m thinkin’ not. And I’m thinkin’ it’s not entirely one sided.Girls:
<Taryn mimics Saige’s shrug> I’m thinkin’ not.Boys:
<David looks over at Saige> You feel the world tilt lately?Girls:
<Saige looks over at David, shrugs non-committaly> I don’t know what you mean.Boys:
<David looks at Taryn> Uh-huh.Girls:
<Taryn laughs> Oh my god.. Saige! That is such a lie.Boys:
<David looks at Saige, smiles> Come on. Tell us.Girls:
<Saige sighs defeated because she knows that Taryn at least won’t let it go> Yes, I like him.Boys:
<David looks at Taryn> Should we tell her?Girls:
<Taryn Frowns> I don’t know.Girls:
<Saige looks at David and Taryn, then at Conrad and SIlver> Tell me *what*?Boys:
<Conrad looks over at David and Taryn> Tell her what? That Samuel’s hot for her, too?Boys:
<David looks at Conrad, arches a brow>Boys:
<Conrad smiles> Um… we’re not real good at keeping secrets where we come from.Girls:
<Silver looks at Conrad, leans in and whispers, smiles> Didn’t that just violate some kind of guy code.Girls:
<Saige blinks> No.. he’s not.Girls:
<Taryn nods>Boys:
<Conrad looks at Silver, smiles, whispers> Anything that helps your boy get laid is not a guy code violation.Boys:
<David looks at Saige> You really can’t tell?

Girls:
<Saige shakes her head> David.. he’s not exactly consistent in the…vibe he puts out there.Boys:
<David laughs> Oh, yeah. Because *you’re* so consistent with yours.Girls:
<Saige shakes her head> He tolerates me because I’m Taryn’s sister.Boys:
<Conrad looks at Saige> Oh, bullshit. He doesn’t “tolerate” anyone.Boys:
<David looks at Taryn> She sounds *just* like him. “Oh, girls like that don’t get with guys like me”.Boys:
<David smiles> “Oh, she’s just curious and now that she’s fucked Aiden, she ain’t curious anymore.”Girls:
<Saige looks at Conrad shakes her head> You *saw* him at the ball park today. Did you *not* hear him? <looks over at David, to Taryn> You heard him too.Boys:
<David looks at Saige> And? We also *saw* you on his back and him laughin’ about it. <looks at Conrad> How often does he laugh about anything?Boys:
<Conrad smiles> Depends on what it is, but.. not a whole hell of a lot.Boys:
<Conrad looks at Saige> Samuel’s a thinker. You let him, he’ll overthink the shit outta everything and talk himself outta “girls like you” before he even gets in the game.Girls:
<Taryn smiles at Saige> You were havin’ fun. You were smiling like…like.. <grins> A girl who’s crush just said “Hi” to them.Boys:
<Conrad laughs, nods to Taryn> Seriously.Girls:
<Saige looks at Taryn> You’re high. <looks at Conrad, shrugs> He’s got Heather. He doesn’t want me.Girls:
<Taryn looks at Saige> Yes.. because it was Heather he dragged into the hallway and all but fucked against the wall.Boys:
<Conrad smiles> He’s got Heather. And you sit there and analyze how he treats you and compare it to the way he treats Heather and go, “oh, if he was into *me*, he’d talk to me that way but he doesn’t, so, he’s not”.Girls:
<Saige looks at Conrad> No.. <shakes her head> that’s not how I go.Boys:
<Conrad smiles again> Okay. So.. how do you “go”?Girls:
<Saige looks at Conrad, frowns> I don’t compare myself to Heather.Boys:
<Conrad nods> All right.. but do you analyze everything he does and says lookin’ for clues?Girls:
<Saige smiles> I analyze looking for who he really is.Boys:
<Conrad smiles> Riiight. Okay, well.. let me tell you a little something about men. When we’re into a girl, we do stupid shit like try and make her jealous. If she doesn’t get shitty when we’re hittin’ on other girls in front of her, we decide that means she doesn’t care and we go ahead and fuck them. Samuel put a gun in *Genja’s* face. That requires *serious* fucking motivation. Motivation like.. no way in hell is *another* one of my friends fuckin’ this girl. <smiles again> Oh, and then there’s the fact that one of his friends *did* fuck you. He’s lookin’ at that, how easy it was for Aiden and how difficult it’s been for him and deciding you’re into *Aiden* and not him. Did I also mention he’s jealous as shit over that?Girls:
<Saige blinks> No.. I know he put a gun in Genja’s face. I …<shakes her head, sighs> Right. Aiden. No you didn’t.Boys:
<Conrad nods> He’s totally jealous over that. He tried to hide it, and almost got there, but not quite. And the last time a girl he wanted or was with fucked one of his friends, he just kinda shrugged it off and chalked it up to women bein’ whores.Girls:
<Saige looks at him> Fuck.Boys:
<Conrad smiles> Anyway.. the point is.. he’s analyzing the shit out of everything too. Tryin’ to figure this out. And every time you smile at him, it’s a step forward. But every time you don’t or you smile at someone else or you do *anything* that can be even *remotely* translated as “non interest” or “interest in someone else” has him taking twice as many steps back. <shrugs> Eventually, you end up a lot farther behind than forward. Heather’s safe. He knows where things stand with her. He knows she likes him at least enough to fuck him and she’s not gonna reject him.Boys:
<Conrad shrugs> But.. as long as you’ve got a man.. you don’t really have to worry about it. *Especially* when you’ve got a man like Van.Girls:
<Saige looks at Conrad, frowns> What the hell is that supposed to mean?Boys:
<Conrad looks at her> It means that guys like us look at the guy a girl we like is with and if he’s better than we are.. we kinda keep lookin’. Unless the guy like us is a total douche.Girls:
<Saige shakes her head> That’s … <looks at Conrad> I don’t know. I said I like him and I do.Boys:
<Conrad nods> Cool.Girls:
<Saige shrugs> I trust him.. and I probably shouldn’t.Girls:
<Taryn looks at Saige> After what he did.. I don’t know why you shouldn’t. Jesus Saige. He protected you…<quietly> And I have no doubt in *my* mind that if things had gone differently..they would have gone terribly horribly wrong and he would have shot Genja.Boys:
<Conrad looks at Silver> *Now* I’m gonna break guy code.Girls:
<Silver looks at Conrad and nods>

Boys:
<Conrad looks at Taryn> He totally woulda shot Genja. Right there in front of god and everyone because that was Samuel’s knee jerk reaction. And *that* doesn’t happen often. He’s way too calculating for that. <looks at Saige> I’m gonna give you a little tip. You and Taryn. When you ask Samuel a question and he makes it a point to look you in the eye while he’s takin’ his sweet time givin’ you an answer.. and you’ll know what I mean when you see it.. he’ll take a longer drag of that cigarette, take longer to exhale, wait for the smoke to be gone or he’ll take a longer than usual drink from his beer bottle.. and all the while, while you’re waitin’ for his response, he’s lookin’ you in the eye and not flinching.. *that’s* when he’s lying.

Girls:
<Saige blinks> Oh really?Boys:
<Conrad nods> Where the rest of us’ll try and change the subject or look away or answer too quickly.. with him it’s almost like he’s daring you not to believe him. And the whole time, he’s weighing his options. Truth vs. the lie and what each one will cost him and which lie will be the most believable.Girls:
<Saige nods, replaying her’s and Samuel’s conversation back in her head, looks toward the smaller barn>Boys:
<David looks at Taryn> Huh.Girls:
<Taryn nods> Huh.. is right.Boys:
<Conrad looks at Silver> You think that was TMI?Girls:
<Silver looks at Saige, shrugs> And if he’s giving you the truth when it can bite him in the ass…*That* speaks volumes. <looks at Conrad> I don’t think so.. <smiles> But they are going over every conversation they’ve ever had with him.Boys:
<Conrad smiles> Oh, I know they are. I did the same thing when I first figured it out.Girls:
<Silver nods> I did too..Boys:
<Conrad looks at Silver> Should I tell them about *that* smile, while I’m at it?Girls:
<Silver nods> Sure.. in for a penny in for a pound.Boys:
<Conrad thinks about it> Yeah. That pound bein’ my ass. <looks at her> I’ll let them figure that one out ont their own. Give ’em somethin’ to do when they’re bored.Girls:
<Taryn looks at Conrad> That smile.. the one that is.. charming that is used more for distraction and to soften you up?Boys:
<Conrad looks at Taryn> Well.. there’s that, too, but.. he also uses it when he’s coverin’ up. Like.. sometimes, if he smiles at you like that, it’s him *not* tellin’ you that he wants to rip your head off right now.Girls:
<Taryn smiles> Oh.. <looks at David> He gave me that smile when I told him what I did about the world tilting.Boys:
<David looks at Taryn> That’d be you hittin’ too close to home and him not wantin’ to admit it.Girls:
<Taryn nods, smiles> I knew I was pushing … but I also knew he wouldn’t do anything like rip my head off.. you know.Boys:
<Conrad nods> That’s also him covering his own ass. You know how some people smile when they wanna scream?Girls:
<Taryn nods> Intimately.Boys:
<Conrad nods> Samuel’s one of those people.Boys:
<Conrad looks at her> I’ve seen him give people that smile right before cracking them over the head with a ball bat. Like that landlord of Ava’s.Girls:
<Silver nods>Boys:
<Conrad smiles> It’s the equivalent of Aiden flicking his cigarette into your face and then throwing that first punch while you’re freaking out.Boys:
<Conrad looks at Silver> Well.. that and he just really enjoyed beating the piss outta Ava’s landlord.Girls:
<Silver smiles> I would have loved to have seen that.Girls:
<Silver looks at them>But I’m glad I didn’t.Boys:
<Conrad nods, looks at the others> That’s part of what makes Samuel so scary. That he is crazy calm and he does smile like that when he’s about to do some serious fuckin’ damage.Girls:
<Silver looks at Conrad, then at Saige> And he’s loyal.. but he went after one of his friends because he was in fact protecting you.. someone he just met, and doesn’t know very well and has apparently just been stringing him along.Boys:
<Conrad nods> He’s kind of like a dog of war. You point him at something, give him a reason and let him go. He doesn’t have a conscience about shit like I do. I sit there and weigh the punishment versus the crime and does the person being punished deserve what we’re gonna do to them. For Samuel, there’s right and wrong and if he’s after you for doing something wrong *anything* he does to you is gonna be right. Period.Boys:
<Conrad looks at Silver> Hell.. he and Genja kind of have that in common.Boys:
<Conrad looks back at them> And for Aiden, it’s not about punishment so much as discouraging you from pulling that shit again or just flat out eliminating a threat.Girls:
<Silver nods> Yes they do. <looks at Conrad> But any *one* of them will have your back in a second. No matter where you’re calling from.Boys:
<Conrad smiles at Silver> Yeah, well.. that’s because we go balls out about caring about people just as much as we do about fuckin’ them up.Boys:
<Conrad smiles again> Hell.. look at Aiden and Ava. If you didn’t know him or them.. you’d never believe he had that much love to give.Girls:
<Silver looks at them> Back when I was just out of high school, there was an abandoned amusement park outside of town.. I was living in the fun house. Genja had bought the land.. <looks at Rad> Do you remember that?Girls:
<Taryn smiles> And you can *feel* it from them.Boys:
<Rad nods> Yeah, I do. <looks at the others> And Genja and Constantine find her holed up there, took her in and told her she could earn her keep helping with the horses. And *that’s* how she knows her way around horses. Hell, they didn’t even know her. And not once did either of them say, “oh, by the way, you can fuck us to pay us back”.Girls:
<Silver nods> They didn’t.. They took me back to their *house*…and when I say I was living there I mean.. homeless, I was working at the strip club but wasn’t makin’ much. We didn’t back then. The manager took a cut of our tips.. and when I say a cut.. I mean like 80 percent. But I learned my business sense from Genja as well. When I found out the manager was skimming off the top of the books I went to the owner with that and what I wanted to do to the place. Genja never said it but I knew he was…<looks at Conrad> Proud? maybe.Boys:
<Conrad looks at Silver, smiles> Yeah. I’d say that’s a good word for it.Girls:
<Silver looks at them> The thing is I am who I am today *because* of these guys.Girls:
<Silver smiles> I never said that out loud before.Boys:
<Conrad looks at the others> And Genja can see things in people.. potential.. that other people don’t see. Especially women primarily *because* he’s not sexually motivated like.. “normal” guys. <smiles at Silver>Boys:
<David looks at Conrad> He seemed pretty sexually motivated last night.Girls:
<Saige nods>Girls:
<Silver smiles> because she’d been driving him *nuts*. <blinks> Shit…Boys:
<Conrad looks at them> It wasn’t, though. Thing is.. sex, because of what it is, is like.. crazy scary to women. And it’s a primal fear. *That’s* why he used that. <looks at Silver, smiles> What?Girls:
<Silver looks at Conrad> Just thinking I should stop while I’m ahead.Boys:
<Conrad nods to Silver, looks at them> If he’d been dealin’ with a dude.. he would’ve attacked his ego. Made him feel powerless to protect what was his. Like..he’d tell a guy I’m gonna rape your woman/daughter and force you to watch. Because for a guy *that’s* the ultimate castration.Boys:
<Conrad shrugs> It’s purely psychological.Girls:
<Taryn flinches, Saige blinks> Which is why Genja used that on me, because he knew that would get *that* reaction from Samuel, and scare the shit outta me.Boys:
<Conrad looks at Saige> Exactly. He totally knew Samuel was gonna go off the rails. Had him and Aiden empty their guns when you were in the bathroom.Girls:
<Saige looks at Conrad> Except Samuel didn’t.Boys:
<Conrad smiles> And Genja didn’t see that comin’ which *alone* is pretty fuckin’ epic because I think that’s the *first* time anyone’s ever gotten the drop on Genja.Girls:
<Silver looks at Rad> Neither did Ava. She told me she forgot the one in the chamber.Boys:
<Conrad looks at Silver, laughs> “Forgot” it?Girls:
<Silver nods> And you saw how he didn’t even flinch.Girls:
<Silver to Conrad> Yeah.. she said she remembered when Samuel said he wasn’t stupid enough to not leave one in the chamber…she said she thought “and I was stupid enough to leave it *in* there.”Boys:
<Conrad nods> But he *did* react. It was just a subtle reaction. <looks at them> Genja is the epitome of fearless. You talk about crazy calm. We say all the time he’s like a machine. But he’ll go balls out over his woman. <smiles at Silver again> That’s funny.Girls:
<Taryn nods, Silver looks at Rad> And he’ll use anything he can to get the advantage. I remember when he used Ava to get to Lucien.Boys:
<Conrad nods> Yeah. He’s calculating as fuck. And any plan he comes up with, by the time you’re thinkin’ about step two, he’s already gotten to like.. step ten. *And* considered all the angles and possible outcomes.Girls:
<Silver nods> He has… and it’s scary as fuck.Boys:
<Conrad looks at the others> Back in the day, the richies.. aka the Founding Families and the Black Family in particular owned fuckin’ *everything*. Even most of the South Side which is our side of town. When Aiden and Ava broke up the first time, he got all motivated to take the South Side back because he was sick of the richies takin’ what was ours. And since, in his mind, they’d taken her and he couldn’t take *her* back, he decided we were gonna take back everything else. So, we go to Genja with the plan, because we’ve got some cash between the three of us, and we’ve got some clout, but we don’t come close to Genja’s cash and clout. So.. what does Genja do but bankroll the whole thing *and* take care of the negotiations with the family head. <smiles> *Now*, theBoys:
South Side belongs to *us* and the people that live there and no one else.Girls:
<Silver nods> That was incredible too. <looks at Rad> And was the first time we hooked up.Boys:
<Rad looks at her> Yeah. And when he was married to Eden.Boys:
<Conrad looks at the others> And 18 yeard old little Eden who came from one of the founding families was right there with him, helpin’ like *she* grew up on the South Side.Boys:
<Conrad smile> I still remember the rock he put on *her* finger. At the time, it took out like half his savings. She still wears it.Girls:
<Silver nods> She’s still incredibly loyal to us. <looks at Conrad> Wouldn’t you? <shrugs> Especially if you still loved the guy.Boys:
<Conrad nods, looks at Taryn> Rare blue diamonds that *perfectly* matched her eyes. And that was back in the day when he didn’t know the first thing about sweet talking women *or* being romantic. But he pulled that one off.Girls:
<Silver nods> And it was a huge one too.Girls:
<Taryn blinks> Wow.. he must’ve really adored her.Boys:
<Conrad nods> And probably the first thing he didn’t immediately look at as an investment. <smiles> And he never treated her her age. He never told her she had limitations because of how young she was. He respected the shit out of her and looked passed all that to her true potential. And she’s definitely lived up to it. <shakes his head> They were really good when they were together. Never once did he look at another woman.Girls:
<Silver nods>And Even she gave up Lucien.Boys:
< Conrad nods> And the rest of them. When they disowned her, she moved right into the South Side and this was a silver spoon baby and the South Side is.. a pretty shitty area, yanno? No Bentley’s in the driveways. But she didn’t even look back.Boys:
<Conrad smiles> Hell.. she even ate the food without bitchin’ and helped clean up in the kitchen and this was another girl who’d never touched a dirty plate in her life because she had maids to do it for her.

Girls:
<Silver nods> She made it her mission to be the best wife she could be to him…but they didn’t start out on easy ground either.. she earned it and *not* by fucking him.Boys:
<Conrad looks at Silver> Remember when they had her locked up and he broke into the asylum in the middle of the night to see her?Girls:
<Silver nods> Oh my god that was great. I heard about that one. And they didn’t put her in the good one.. they locked her up in the county hospital.Boys:
<Rad nods, looks at the others> Then they banned him from the visitor’s list. Her *husband*. And he said, fuck that, nothin’ was keepin’ him away from her unless *she* looked him in the eye and told him to stay away.Boys:
<David smiles> Damn. That’s ballsy.Boys:
<Conrad laughs> No. Ballsy was Eden making *friends* with the town lunatic who everyone was terrified of.Girls:
<Silver nods> And They’re still friends.Boys:
<Conrad nods> Certified and certifiable genius as he likes to call himself. Smart as shit. Condescning as fuck. Tells everyone around him regularly that they’re idiots. And *violent*. But like.. bouts of random, unexpected violence. He was constantly gettin’ the shit beat out of him and beating the shit out of the orderlies.Boys:
<Conrad smiles> He makes Genja look like a teddy bear as far as the warm fuzzies go.Boys:
<Conrad lights a cigarette> And the cops would find any excuse to set him off so they could lock him up if they just saw him walkin’ down the street.Boys:
<Samuel walks up after brushing down Spirit and getting him settled in for the night> We talkin’ about Aaron?Boys:
<Conrad looks at Samuel> Of course.Boys:
<Samuel nods> Aaron’s all right if you can ignore the voices.Girls:
<Saige looks at Samuel, cocks her head studying him>